Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General QoL in BG3

A few things which I would like to see improved over D:OS2 when it comes to QoL:

1. Better inventories, please...
2. Better trading interface (please give us "filter by quality" and "filter by level", too... buying stuff is sometimes seriously annoying)
3. Shared social skills and standing when trading - it's really annoying to switch characters all the time
4. "Ignore" function for looting
5. "Filter" function for looting

I think maybe Larian should create the position of "QoL manager" or something. I'd even consider applying if I lived in Belgium.

Seriously now, from the point of view of a 20 years software engineer and user of many different types of software (including things like Visual Studio, Cubase, Studio One, etc...) I must really say that QoL in D:OS2 is a bit like a stinky foot. While the game is wonderful, sometimes I feel like I have to fight against unnecessary annoyances.

I don't know about the architecture / API of the engine, obviously, but it shouldn't be TOO hard to implement filters, at least from my experience with GUI frameworks?

However, I think the focus in QoL should really be the questions:

1. How FLUENT can gamers interact with everything in the game?
2. Are there any "choke points" in usability (trading and the inventory certainly are, looting to a somewhat lesser extent)?

Please, really... I'm writing this because the "hourly / after every level" shopping trips are really a painful thing to do, because it feels like "office work with terrible tools". The amazing Larian games deserve much better.

What? No. There shouldn't be any "leveled" gear to begin with.
"Filter by level" my hairy ass.

About "sharing skills", just use the highest value currently in the party for that type of interaction. It's not that hard.
It's more questionable if the same should apply in dialogues (probably not) but for browsing merchants there's literally no downside.

Also, more than half a dozen new filter options what I'd love to see in terms of inventory management is just a game that buries you far less frequently in vendor trash of any sort.
There's nothing that makes inventory busywork more manageable than just having less of it.

Or that.

But "vendor trash" in D:OS2 already starts with dudes in Driftwood trying to sell my level 16 toon level 9 trash. I mean, seriously?

And not being able to use "take all" (Y on the controller) most of the time, because most stuff is "wares" only, etc...

Looting and trading should NEVER feel like office work and "inventory maintenance" pauses should be avoided by QoL improvements as much as possible.

I could imagine a function like "add this type of loot always to wares" and "add books you already read to wares". Things like that.

"Focus groups" could help Larian as well. I hope this is the proper term in English, I participated in the past on "focus groups" with topics of museums, art and culture in my city - always a great experience to help shaping the city life. So why not the same super productive concept for a game?

Oh finally some productive criticism! The inventory system in DOS 2 was really terrible, I agree. I don't have any specific idea on how to improve it, I can say that I found containers within the inventory to be really annoying and the trading system to be bad as well. And while we're on the subject, perhaps don't put so many useless items in the game!

Oh yes. I mean "GAME FLOW". The FLOW of the GAME.

Inventory and trading are serious choke points in this regard. Annoyances which I really always hated to touch.

And the useless items which can't be "auto wares"... X -> add to wares, X -> add to wares, X -> add to wares, etc, etc... why not "make this type of item always wares" at least?

And add books automatically to "reading list" or something similar and turn them into wares on pickup. Far less trash.

or maybe just implement a codex, and any book you pick up goes straight there and don't ever show up in the inventory to begin with.

Ooooooh, I love this idea sooooo much.

Please, dear designers @ Larian Studios... listen to THIS MAN.

I mean, it's not new criticism.
I've been complaining about this (and few more things related to it) for more than two years myself.
And there are plenty of other threads talking about itemization and inventory management.

Not that I'm complaining about having one more, since it was my MOST DESPISED aspect of DOS 1 and 2, so the more attention people brings to it the better.


I'd have plenty, but as I said more than a filtering issue what needs to be addressed is the problem at the source of it: having too much useless shit thrown at you constantly.


Which interestingly enough is something plenty of games already did in the past.
Larian somehow missed the memo.

We already have a thread for that, but yes:

- Equipment should not have a level at all, just follow the DnD 5E rules

- There should be much less items in the first place ( In the video I could see that you come across a loot container every few steps)

- A better inventory system than D:OS1+2

Personally I preferred the inventory of the IE games over the one of D:OS.
It was limited by wight and the number of inventory slots, so you have to think what to take and not filling your inventory with 100 junk items.

Yeah, would all be moot if we weren't inundated with so much stuff.

The "random itemization" with sometimes seriously, sorry, idiotic rolls are a topic here, too.

Finesse armor with +Strength?

And the issue with item levels - I fully agree here:

There is a +2 Lucky Charm amulet somewhere in Driftwood - something every 4 toon party wants to have. But it's, basically, locked to a certain level, which makes it a "no go" later in the game.

Seriously?

Items of "unique" or similar rarity should, in my opinion, carry you through most, if not all, of the game. And replacing this "super lucky charm" amulet with something else was a painful moment in EVERY playthrough.

And when it comes to looting:

I always "fear" finishing off, for example, Ryker. Because looting his mansion takes ages, for very few good items. I wish there was, at most, like 5 or 6 containers with the good stuff in there instead of having to loot the whole place (including sorting / managing inventory afterwards) for half an hour (feels longer, I think).

No, MMORPGs are not a good role model for cRPGs. MMORPGs NEED to keep players busy with tedious tasks, cRPGs should play fluent with as little management, tedious tasks and similar things as possible (zero of that would be achievable, I think).